1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system for monitoring persons in, for example, a building, and more particularly to a system for monitoring persons, by using images photographed by cameras.
2. Description of the Related Art
In any huge building, for example, security management is indispensable to monitor persons (including intruders) other than those authorized to enter the building or the respective rooms provided in the building. Generally, security management in the building is achieved in two aspects, namely physical security and security level.
A representative system that ensures the physical security is the video monitoring system. The video monitoring system has monitoring cameras and a video-data storage apparatus. The monitoring cameras photograph persons passing through, for example, a security gate (more precisely, the door to the room). The video-data storage apparatus store the video data representing images the monitoring cameras have photographed.
In the video monitoring system, the security manager and guards stationed in the building can obtain the images photographed by the monitoring cameras from the video-data storage apparatus, at all times or at any time desired, and can watch the images displayed on the display screens. They can therefore visually recognize the number of persons existing in the area covered by each monitoring camera and the behavior of each person in the area. From only the images photographed by the monitoring cameras, however, any person who has cleared the prescribed security rules cannot be identified. The “person who has cleared the prescribed security rules” is, for example, one not authorized to enter a particular room in the building.
A representative system that ensures the security level is a room entry/exit management system. The room entry/exit management system has a personal authentication apparatus and an entry/exit monitoring apparatus. The personal authentication apparatus authenticates any person in accordance with the data read from the smartcard the person holds, the code key the person has input, or the biometric data read from the person. The entry/exit monitoring apparatus releases the electromechanical lock provided on the door of a specific room, opening the physical gate to the room, when the person is authenticated as one authorized to enter and exit the room.
Thus, the room entry/exit management system is a system that monitors and controls and manages the entry and exit of persons, for a building or each room provided in the building. The room entry/exit management system manages data in accordance with the codes (ID numbers) the personal identification apparatus has acquired in identifying persons or with text data representing, for example, the names of persons.
The video monitoring system manages video data only. The room entry/exit management system does nothing but manages data. They cannot quickly identify persons, if any, who clear the security rules.
In recent years, a room entry/exit management system has been proposed, which is a combination of a tracking apparatus and a biometric identification apparatus (see, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2007-303239.) The tracking apparatus has a tracking camera configured to track and photograph a person. The biometric identification apparatus has an identification camera arranged near, for example, the door to the room. The room entry/exit management system only detects the number of persons identified and the number of persons not identified, and cannot store many frame images photographed by the tracking camera or display these images. Hence, this system cannot identify any person who has cleared the prescribed security rules, either.